The present invention relates to a fastening clip intended particularly, but not exclusively, for fastening pieces made of thermoplastic material and provided with such clips onto metal pieces, particularly in vehicle construction, for the purpose of fixing plastic internal trim onto bodywork.
Traditionally, such fasteners are made by means of discrete add-on elements such as rivets, plastics clips, or screws where the thread is engaged in a hole or an opening in the metal or plastics support and where the head holds captive the plastics piece that is to be secured. Although that kind of assembly is easy to disassemble, it is expensive because it leads to additional tooling being made. Furthermore, a large amount of labor time is required to perform such fixing by means of add-on elements.
When the inside of a car is fitted with a lateral air bag for the head, it is necessary to retain the interior trim after the bag has inflated so that the trim does not constitute a projectile which could injure an occupant of the cabin. More generally, it is advantageous to be able to retain a piece after it has been unclipped.
An object of the present invention is to mitigate the drawbacks of known clips and to enable a previously-clipped piece to be retained after it has been unclipped.
The invention provides a plastics material clip for fastening a piece onto a support, in particular a metal support, the clip comprising on a base: a first male portion snap-fastenable in an opening, a second male portion extending in line with the first portion, a flexible strap secured to the base and connecting it to a female piece that is snap-fastenable on said second male portion. The female piece that is snap-fastenable on the top portion of the fastener is also provided with assembly means for engaging a female piece secured to the trim.
In another characteristic of the invention, the bottom portion of the clip comprises a shank having two walls projecting from the bottom end thereof in a V-shape with the free ends of the walls presenting snap-fastening tips which come into contact with the edges of the hole so as to provide firm resistance to traction.
The flexibility of the plastics material makes it possible to insert the bottom portion of the clip in the orifice and to retract the projecting tips until the clip occupies a predefined position in which the sheet metal, or more generally the support, is clamped between the base of the fastener and the snap-fastening tips.
In the invention, the base with its folded-down edges makes it possible to change the position of sharp zones. The flanges of the V-shaped clip can thus slide on the edges of the support without being injured, enabling the clip to take up its final position.
Said pieces need to be dismantled only occasionally as a function of particular problems. The thermoplastic material constituting the clip is thus selected in such a manner as to be capable of being subjected without damage to a score of assembly and disassembly operations.